MAYVILLE - Celoron Mayor John Keeney was wrong when he fired Rick Slagle, former village Code Enforcement Officer, in August.
That was the ruling in State Supreme Court on Monday when Judge James Dillon, in less than an hour, ruled that Slagle was unduly terminated during his two-year appointed term.
"Frankly," the judge said, "I believe that when he was appointed, it was for a two-year term."
Mayor Keeney appointed Terrilyn LaRose to the position on Aug. 10, following an executive session at the village board meeting. Slagle said he wasn't notified he was being replaced prior to that day.
"Justice has been done and now there's the question of damages to my client," said James P. Subjack, who is representing Slagle. "Mr. Slagle is not looking for reinstatement, he just wants the pay he would have received for the rest of his term and (court) costs."
''This wasn't so much about the money for him either - it's about the principal," Subjack continued.
Subjack and Andrew Goodell, village attorney, are working to agree on a date for pretrial on the issue of damages.
The village had asserted that Slagle, who was appointed to the position in April 2008 by then-Mayor Tom Bartolo, was appointed only to fill the remainder of a term vacated by a code enforcement officer who had fallen ill.
The previous code enforcement officer was appointed in 2007, and his term would have expired in 2009. Keeney's stance was that since Slagle was appointed in 2008, he was only there to finish the previous term and not start a brand new term.
Goodell argued that point in court Monday but the judge said that if that was clearly true, there wouldn't have been any reason to officially change the minutes from the meeting when he was first appointed.
In August 2009, the Celoron Village Board passed a resolution to amend the minutes of the April 10, 2008, meeting where Slagle was appointed to "remove any reference to the term of office" in order to "eliminate any misunderstanding or confusion," according to the village's official minutes.
The resolution passed although Keeney and Norman Mattison, who weren't officials with the village in 2008, abstained from voting.
According to Subjack, Slagle would have earned $3,888.77 from the village had he been allowed to finish his term. He said that the total amount of money sought from the village would only be slightly higher due to recouping court costs, which Slagle is entitled to by law.
